NEWPORT, SOUTH WALES, U.K., has a vision—Vision 2014 to be precise. Launched in 2004, the 10-year development plan aims to make the city more accessible, attractive and greener, too. The Southern Distributor Road (SDR) project does that—and more—by easing heavy traffic in Newport's center and providing a new connection to abandoned land south of the city.
The project included construction of a striking new bridge over the River Usk and widening of 9.5 kilometers of urban highway through a congested route crossing two major rail lines. New roads were built for bridge access, and much of the existing route was realigned, resurfaced or rebuilt.
Thanks to an unusual public-private partnership, the $99 million project was completed in December 2004, three months earlier than scheduled. Along the way, the project team also managed to save $7.2 million on materials and won an environmental award.
Finance First
Work had been progressing slowly with local government funding since 1987, when the SDR was chosen in 1997 as a “pathfinder” project in the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) program. This financing method, which began in the United Kingdom, is increasingly used for public works supplied by the private sector in a concessionaire arrangement. The process focuses on whole-life costing and transfers much of the project risk to the private sector. With PFI—unlike privatization and other delivery methods—the public sector retains ultimate responsibility for the project.
The pathfinder designation was the first for a local road project in Wales. Under the deal, the private-sector parties in PFI are paid back by the Welsh government from “shadow tolls,” an automated system of sensors in the road bed that collect information used to bill drivers for using the route. These tolls are collected through the life of the concession.
Although PFI helped make the project possible, the process took time to negotiate, says Aiden Brannan, operations manager for the project at infrastructure services company Morgan Est, London, U.K.
First, the company formed a joint venture with the London office of Vinci Construction Grands Projets, Cedex, France, to compete for the concession contract. The resulting Morgan Est-Vinci joint venture was one of four consortia selected in April 2000 to tender bids for the project, and all the candidates were heavily involved with the Newport City Council in setting the project scope. In 2002, Morgan Est-Vinci was awarded the contract.
Road Block Ahead
Because this was the first PFI for a local road, there was a learning process, says Brian Kemp. As head of engineering and construction for the Newport City Council, he worked with Morgan Est-Vinci during negotiations. “No one here had ever dealt with such a contract, and there were legal and other issues involved in figuring out what might happen over 40 years,” he says. One question was whether the project could be completed in three years, with 37 years of toll collection, or in less time.
project timeline
_____ April 1997 Project declared a pathfinder under the Private Finance Initiative program.
_________ April 2000 Four consortia shortlisted and invited to tender bids.
______________ March 2002 Contract awarded to Morgan Est-Vinci.
___________________ April 2002 Work begins.
________________________ October 2004 Project receives a Green Apple award for Environmental Excellence in Construction.
_____________________________ December 2004 Southern Distributor Road is completed three months early.
The contract was awarded on the basis of design, build, finance and operate. With this project delivery method, design and construction proceed simultaneously and as parties see ways to gain efficiencies or otherwise improve the work, they combine efforts to make changes. “We had to rescope many times during the process,” Mr. Brannan says, but most of the changes saved time or money. The contractor presented choices, such as designing traffic intersections at grade (flat roadway construction) or by using overpass bridges. At one intersection, eliminating an overpass saved about $1.8 million. All parties, including the utilities and subcontractors, discussed the relative cost, quality, schedule and other factors before the council made decisions on such changes.
The project team also applied value engineering to the work. The concept calls for everyone on the project to review the design and construction scheme and work together to identify possible cost savings. For this project, materials changes made to embankments, culverts and paving meant savings of more than $7.2 million.
Once work began, the team took the rather unusual step of using radar to identify potential obstacles posed by underground utilities. Calling this detection method “clash management,” Mr. Brannan explains that “you can't put a column where you've got a utility line.” The rarely used technique paid off in major time savings, he says.
river city regeneration
THANKS TO BURGEONING IRON, steel and coal exports, Newport was a thriving city in the mid-19th century, and regeneration was certainly a driving force behind the Southern Distributor Road (SDR) project.
Only one bridge spanned the river until the mid-20th century when two new bridges, one a freeway, were built. River-based industrial activity diminished radically, however, leaving the city with up to 300 acres of derelict underused land. The SDR was designed in part to enhance access to those sites.
Development was not a matter of “build the bridge and sell the sites,” says Richard Owen, manager of projects and designs for the Newport City Council. Newport had to assemble land packages, oversee reclamation and mount a major marketing campaign, he says. A local land regeneration company, Newport Unlimited, is working with the city toward the development goals.
Significant activity is starting, including 500,000 square feet of retail space, and plans for residential properties, a cinema, a health club and a new bus station are on the agenda, Mr. Owen says. About 100,000 square feet of office development is on site or in the pipeline. The development office expects about 2,400 new houses and apartments on either side of the river.
SDR is working as intended, says Brian Kemp of Newport's City Council. He cites regeneration activity on the docks and brown-field sites now cleared for industry of a lighter sort than the former steel and coal facilities that once dominated the landscape.
The Southern Distributor Road is a 9.3 kilometer (about 5.8 mile) project undertaken to improve the flow of traffic through heavily congested industrial and residential areas on the south side of Newport.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CITY OF NEWPORT
Informal partnering workshops enhanced cooperation. Led by an outside facilitator, these sessions included site staff, a senior representative of the client, key suppliers, project directors and the utilities. The goal was to ensure design and construction decisions benefited the project—not the individual parties involved, Mr. Brannan says.
Recycled Roadway
Using local and recycled materials was a contract requirement—one that saved $3.6 million. Ninety-seven percent of the roadway materials were recycled, including a type of slag with low contaminants that was approved for use in the pavements, Mr. Brannan says. The slag came from a former steel mill in the area, and using it helped pump money back into the local economy. Excavation fill from early work, including old curbing and other concrete or asphalt products, also was used.
In most construction projects, contractors focus on keeping up-front costs low. For this project, however, the lengthy concession period forced the team to think about costs relating to the entire life of the project. Because the project depended on toll income calculated on the basis of 68 percent road availability, using materials that required less maintenance and repair meant fewer highway closures and more toll revenue. This “whole-life costing” allowed the contractor to use some high-quality items such as stainless steel columns for the bridge.
Keeping it Green
Designed by Faber & Maunsell, London, U.K., the stunning new gateway bridge over the River Usk serves as the project's aesthetic centerpiece. The Newport City Council wanted a special structure in keeping with the two existing bridges, one of which was the United Kingdom's first cable-stayed bridge, Mr. Brannan says.
Building the 187-meter long bowstring arch span posed construction and environmental protection challenges, however. The river has a tidal range of 12 meters, the second largest in the world, which severely limited construction time, Mr. Brannan says. Morgan Est-Vinci also had to consider the salmon and broad-headed shad in the river. The deck was launched in two sections, half from each side of the river onto temporary piers, and no permanent piers are in the river itself. The area is crisscrossed with drainage channels that attract significant wildlife and vegetation within them, which helps clean the water, and the contract specified that these be used for drainage wherever possible. A few new pipes were placed, but the channels were left largely undisturbed.
The entire project, including the bridge, was divided into 12 sections, with 22 contractual conditions to be approved by Newport City Council's compliance officer. As the project commenced, Morgan Est-Vinci worked with the city's environmental agency and the Countryside Council for Wales to explain the hows and whys of decisions, Mr. Brannan says.
The environmental effort on the entire project culminated in a 2004 Green Apple Award for Environmental Excellence in Construction. It marked the first construction award for Wales—and a fitting cap to the project effort. PM
Virginia Fairweather, former editor-in-chief of Civil Engineering magazine, writes about management, architecture, engineering and construction.